I wrote lyrics for a song in a novella in Stories! The Unexpected First Collection. Now I’m planning to write the music. Only one problem…
I don’t remember how to write music. Or play guitar. So I’ve asked my dad to reteach me guitar.
Let’s hope this goes well!
I’ve been journalling my progress on Tumblr, but since barely anybody I know has my Tumblr, I decided that it would make a good series of posts on our blog for the month of August.
I started on June 29th, when my dad let me borrow his guitar. I’ve been using an app called Yousician, not on premium (which means I get 30 minutes of practice time per day and limited song options. That really isn’t a problem for me.)
June 29
I had my first lesson today.
I forgot how much pressing on the strings hurts my fingers.
I’m starting from scratch because I was never really taught before; my dad showed me some of the chords and that was it. So I’m learning about tabs.
And how to tune!
The first lesson was tuning and playing the 6th string open (not touching the string). Then I learned about frets 1, 2, and 3 and how to play them with changing fingers.
My index finger is so sore.
I want to learn more!!!!!!!
June 30
I remembered to take a picture today!
Dragon has been learning how to read the tabs along with me and is talking about them properly.
I love it.
I need a lot of practice.
July 3
I learned what riffs are yesterday.
Today, my head was spinning because I got my second dose of Moderna yesterday, so I didn’t continue with lessons; instead, I tried to play Dust in the Wind by Kansas with chords. It’s a lot harder than I remember it being.
And my fingers still hurt from pressing on the strings.
But it was nice to play something that actually sounded a little bit like something.
July 4
I played two songs as riffs today. The second one, I only made one mistake!
I’m very proud of myself.
Then I tried playing Dust in the Wind by Kansas again. I had to completely relearn the chords, but they came quicker today, which was nice.
My fingers still hurt from pressing on the strings.
And the rest of my body hurts from holding it in an awkward position.
Hopefully I’ll get stronger, both in my back and in my fingers.
July 6: I’m darn proud of myself for today
I forgot to play yesterday. I had a pretty bad headache, so I was going to just do the left hand, but I completely forgot.
Today, I went back a couple lessons and tried to do the first couple songs again. I did better, but I still need practice.
Then I moved on and did two new riffs (twice each), and I did very well with them. The third riff was very hard and my fingers were very tired, so I did not do very well at all. It was kinda funny, actually. I’ll try it again tomorrow.
I’ve been paying more attention to the background music of the songs I like to listen to, and I’ve noticed that the music doesn’t always change notes/chords when the voice changes.
That’s probably not news to a lot of people.
But I played flute in band (a long time ago) and I’m a soprano (ish), so I’ve almost always had the melody line.
So I never really paid attention to what the background music was doing. I know about harmonies of course, but that’s not the same thing.
Anyways, my point is.
My point is…
I think I kinda know how to plan out the music part of the song I wrote.
At least, I wrote the tabs for the first verse today. I’m pretty happy with it. It’ll probably undergo changes as I learn more, but for now, I’m pretty thrilled with it.
And it doesn’t change on every note.
Now I just need to practice more and learn chords so that I can write the music for the chorus (because I want the chorus to be richer in sound than the verses and bridge… At least, that’s what I’m thinking right now.)
Also, I need to become more confident in my singing. I could barely hear myself over the guitar.
But today was the first day I felt like I was making progress.
I’m pretty darn proud of myself.
Oh, and my fingers don’t hurt as much today.